In 1806, Virginia's General Assembly passed a law that required enslaved people who had been freed after that date to leave the state within one year's time. Those who remained in the Commonwealth more than a year could be re-enslaved and sold.…
Western Virginia's mineral-spring resorts were extremely popular in the 19th century. Travelers from throughout the United States, but especially from southern states, visited the resorts. There people would take in the "cure" or spring water, enjoy…
Beginning in the 18th century, cemeteries in Richmond were racially segregated. Deceased residents of African descent were interred in the Burial Ground for Negroes (also known as the African Burial Ground) alongside the city’s Shockoe Creek. The…
In 1801, following Gabriel's failed slave rebellion, the Virginia General Assembly decreed that county commissioners of the revenue were to return a complete list of all free Black men and women in their districts on an annual basis. The list was to…
The temperance movement was one of many reform efforts that built support in the decades before the Civil War. Temperance is defined as moderation in action, thought, or feeling, and is often used to describe the long campaign to decrease the…
After a public notice appeared in a Richmond newspaper in October 1842 that a petition would be presented to the Virginia General Assembly to sell King William County property known as "Indian town lands," members of the Pamunkey tribe took action.…
On January 20, 1843, a petition from residents of King William County was presented to the House of Delegates. The men who signed it asked the General Assembly to sell the lands that the royal government had set aside for the Pamunkey Indians by…
Before the end of slavery, free Black Virginians found their liberty in constant jeopardy because they were not considered citizens. After Gabriel's attempted slave rebellion in 1800, the General Assembly passed an act in 1801 requiring county…
In December 1833, a group of about sixty Black and white men met in Philadelphia and organized the American Anti-Slavery Society to seek the immediate emancipation of enslaved people. The Society viewed slavery as a violation of the principle of…
Virginia's economy was based on slavery until the Civil War and emancipation. Farmers and planters relied on enslaved laborers to work their land. Many businesses, including railroads, coal mines, tobacco factories, and saltworks, also exploited…